Arts & Culture

Cayuga Sound Grows to Two Days of Music in Stewart Park

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The first annual installment of Cayuga Sound saw both X Ambassadors and The Roots headline. But while this past year has certainly been a busy one for X Ambassadors — as the band has been hard at work on their second major record which Sam Harris, X Ambassadors frontman, described to me as constantly in flux but “expected to be completed sometime in 2019” — they have grown their festival to include a second night of action in Stewart Park. This year’s ticket includes acts such as Young the Giant, who rose to stardom through singles like “My Body” and “Cough Syrup,” Talib Kweli, Towkio and dance duo Matt and Kim. Harris described the process in curating this year’s festival in a recent interview with The Sun:

“Honestly, we really just kind of reached out to [this year’s] artists blindly. We didn’t really have any prior relationship with any of them.

Arts & Culture

Music, Ithaca, Activism: A Conversation with Sam Harris of X Ambassadors

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If there’s anything we learned from last year’s Cayuga Sound Festival, it’s that X Ambassadors are more than just a band. They are expert showmen, skilled curators and philanthropists:  home-town-heroes in every sense. Cayuga Sound began last year as X Ambassadors’ homage to their roots and is hosted in Stewart Park — a place Sam Harris, the frontman of X Ambassadors, says holds tremendous sentimental value. “I was a camp counselor at Stewart Park Day Camp … it was a place where I would go to play soccer as a kid,” he described. He continued on to discuss how he “has a very deep emotional connection with the park” and how “it is insane to be able to put a festival on there.”

Harris notes that as a kid he “just wanted to get out” of Ithaca.

Arts & Culture

X Ambassadors and Young the Giant to Headline the Second Annual Cayuga Sound Festival in Stewart Park

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X Ambassadors and Young the Giant will headline the second annual Cayuga Sound Festival in Stewart Park. This year, however, the festival will last two days as opposed to the one last year and will take place September 21 and 22. Other artists performing will include Matt and Kim, Sofi Tukker, Talib Kweli, Buddy, Morgxn, Knew, Lady D and the Shadow Spirits and Cornell’s very own No Comply. More artists remain to be announced. X Ambassadors are the curators of Cayuga Sound Festival and were formed in Ithaca.

Arts & Culture

Cayuga Sound Festival Rocks Stewart Park

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Local and national artists came together Saturday at the first Cayuga Sound Festival, delivering quality music to the unique Ithaca community and creating a one-of-a-kind experience that can only be found here in Ithaca. There was something special about the laid-back attitude of the Ithaca community, the musicians, the familiar location at Stewart Park, and the local businesses selling food. The familiarity and friendliness added comfort to the experience, breaking the stereotype of chaotic music festivals. There were two stages set up next to each other and artists alternated between them. Businesses and radio stations had tents set up along the park, with food trucks serving most of the local food found at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market.