Munsee

Syracuse, N.Y. – The Seneca Savings January JazzFest, a fixture of the Syracuse area midwinter music scene since 2011, celebrates its 10th year of live programming on Sunday, Jan. 30 from 1 to 9 p.m. at Mohegan Manor.

America’s music will resound from all four floors of the historic venue in Baldwinsville, spanning diverse styles including mainstream and bebop, traditional acoustic swing, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. Outstanding high school talent will be showcased, the next generation of emerging professionals will gather to jam, and this year’s special guest headliner, the Queens-born, Brooklyn-based Marianne Solivan, will perform in a festival setting for the first time since joining the Syracuse University music faculty as instructor of vocal jazz.

According to Jazz Times, Solivan is “a vital part of the Manhattan jazz scene…her sound hints at the sharp-focused intensity of Patricia Barber [and] the earthiness of Dinah Washington melded with the interpretive sass of Carmen McRae or, on occasion, even Betty Carter.”

She has performed and recorded with Christian McBride, Peter Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt, Gregory Hutchinson, Steve Wilson, Gene Bertoncini, and Lewis Nash, and many others, appearing at iconic jazz locations including Smoke, Smalls, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, and The Blue Note.

She will front a band of regional luminaries including Rick Montalbano, Tom Brigandi, Jimmy Johns, and Joe Carello for a 90-minute show at the event.

“This year’s event is the most intergenerational we’ve ever put together,” said Larry Luttinger, CNY Jazz founder and curator of the organization’s annual fundraiser. “We’re providing a platform for performers from boomer to Gen Z and everything in between.  Our best talent of today and tomorrow will be on display.”

Proceeds from the festival will support the scholastic activities of the CNY Jazz “Educational Pipeline” of scholastic programs including the SummerJazz Workshop and CNY Jazz Youth Orchestra, as…

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Bill Reid  |  For The Bulletin

Monday evening brings the Wolf Moon, the first full moon of the new year with peak illumination at 6:51 p.m. Look for it to rise from the northeastern horizon around sunset.

In New England, and all the way west to Lake Superior, we use the traditional names given by the Algonquin peoples for the full moons. Why is January the Wolf Moon? According to legend, January is when wolves are most likely to be heard howling. Long ago it was thought wolves howled in January because of hunger, but we now understand wolf howling is done for several reasons – to identity and claim territory, locate mates and pack members, organize hunting and strengthen the pack’s social bond.

Today, there are no wolves left in our region to howl at the full moon, as they have been long extirpated from this part of the country as an apex predator. But perhaps we should consider changing the name of the January full moon to the Eastern Coyote Moon, the canid species that has supplanted the wolf. My guess is all readers of this column have heard the howl of the eastern coyote (as well as their other varied vocalizations). That sound, on a cold winter night, can send a shiver up your spine, just as the sound of a wolf howl may have once done for the inhabitants of this region prior to the mid-18th century.

The region’s connection to the wolf dates to its earliest human inhabitants. The Mohegan people of the region call themselves the wolf people. The first sentences of the Mohegan mission statement say “We are the Wolf People, children of Mundo, a part of the Tree of Life. Our ancestors form our roots, our living Tribe is the trunk, our…

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Among signs of the sense of normalcy repopulating everyday life is the return of restaurant weeks.

The Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, has organized a just such a promotion for later this month. Running from Jan. 23 through 27, their Restaurant Week has a number of the casino’s high-profile dining destinations participating.

VALLO Italian Restaurant has a three-course dinner deal offering guests a choice of starters, the option of selecting from four different entre favorites, and a cannoli for dessert. The meal package price is $35.

Michael Jordan’s Steak House has put together a three-course dining experience around a seared tuna steak. Caesar salad is the starter course and a chocolate bread pudding serves as finale.

Lobster will be the attraction at Jasper White’s Summer Shack, where it’s being paired up with a salad to start and Key Lime pie to finish.

Lansdowne Irish Pub, SolToro, and Sushi Koya are among the other Mohegan Sun venues participating in the promotion.

More details on the Restaurant Week at Mohegan Sun can be found at mohegansun.com or by calling 888-226-7711.

The granddaddy of restaurant weeks, NYC Restaurant Week, has returned in the form of a Winter 2022 edition running from January 18 through February 13.

Organized and promoted by NYC & Company, the Big Apple’s tourism and convention agency, this winter’s “week” has price points for two-course luncheon and three-course dinner menus set at $29, $39, and $59 with 450 restaurants across the City’s five boroughs participating. As is customary, Saturdays are excluded from the program, and Sunday participation is at the option of individual restaurants.

Eateries in NYC are under a proof-of-vaccination order for restaurant dining.

In conjunction with Restaurant Week, NYC Broadway Week is also being held, with many major musicals and plays offering two-for-one pricing deals on tickets.

For details on either promotion, go to

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