In late-March, Ghost Light released their long-awaited debut studio album, Best Kept Secrets. The album has been in the works for the better part of two years. During their time on the road since work on the project began, Ghost Light has become one of the most exciting and in-demand live bands on the circuit.Recently, Ghost Light stopped by Asheville, NC’s Echo Mountain Studios for a special Echo Sessions performance. Presented by iAmAVL, the band—comprised of Tom Hamilton, Holly Bowling, Raina Mullen, Dan Africano, and Scotty Zwang—worked through a majority of Best Kept Secrets material, including “Don’t Come Apart Just Yet, My Dear”, “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”, “Best Kept Secret”, and “Diamond Eyes”, along with a cover of American Babies‘ “Streets Of Brooklyn”.Watch pro-shot video of Ghost Light’s lengthy Echo Sessions performance below:Ghost Light – Echo Sessions (Pro-Shot)[Video: Iam AVL]Ghost Light’s 2019 spring tour continues on Thursday, May 9th with a performance at Hamden, CT’s Space Ballroom. For a full list of upcoming dates, see below. For more information and ticketing, head to the band’s website.Setlist: Ghost Light | Echo Sessions | Echo Mountain Studios | Asheville, NCSet: Don’t Come Apart Just Yet, My Dear > Keep Your Hands To Yourself > Don’t Come Apart Just Yet, My Dear, Best Kept Secret > Keep Your Hands To Yourself > Diamond Eyes, Streets Of Brooklyn (American Babies ) > Best Kept SecretGhost Light 2019 Tour Dates:5/9 – Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom5/10 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl5/11 – Portland, ME – Portland House of Music5/15 – Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre5/16 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club5/17 – Asbury Park, NJ – Wonder Bar5/18 – Washington, DC – The Hamilton5/19 – Corolla, NC – Mike Dianna’s Grill Room5/24 – 5/26 – Long Creek, SC – Long Creek Music Festival5/24 – 5/26 – Chillicothe, IL – Summer Camp Music Festival5/25 – Martinsville, VA – Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival6/6 – 6/8 – Wellston, MI – Camp Greensky Music Festival6/6 – 6/9 – Stephentown, NY – Disc Jam6/27 – 6/30 – Rothbury, MI – Electric Forest Festival7/5 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater7/6 – Dillon, CO – Dillon Amphitheater7/18 – 7/21 – North Plains, OR – Northwest String Summit7/20 – Roseberry, ID – Summer Music Festival at Roseberry7/25 – 7/28 – Scranton, PA – Peach Music Festival7/26 – 7/27 – Burlington, VT – Tumble Down Festival8/2 – Johnstown, PA – Flood City Music Festival9/22 – East Aurora, NY – Borderlands Music Festival1/7 – 1/2, 2020 – Miami, FL – Jam CruiseView Tour Dates
Ghost Light Shares Pro-Shot Video From Recent ‘Echo Sessions’ [Watch]
March 2, 2021
The Lexington, Kentucky-based organization gave $25,000 to the Race Track Chaplaincy of America. The money will be allocated to help those most in need at various backstretch communities. Breeders’ Cup also donated 4,500 gloves, 2,000 hair covers, 1,200 Tyvek suits, 500 masks and 500 shoe covers to the state of Kentucky for medical professionals to treat COVID-19 patients. Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Drew Fleming says the group remains “fully committed” to holding the world championships at Keeneland on Nov. 6-7.However, if the event is canceled or held without spectators, Fleming says anyone who has already purchased tickets, or is thinking of doing so, would receive a full refund.___ The NCAA also said teams are prohibited from requiring any activities beginning one week before the start of their school’s final examination period for the spring semester through the conclusion of exams.___Ravens right tackle Orlando Brown says he’s “scared” the NFL will not have a 2020 season because of the threat of coronavirus.Brown continues to train in Oklahoma but is unsure if Baltimore will get a chance to defend its AFC North title.“I’m a little scared. It’s a serious situation,” he said. “You can only control what you can control, and for me personally that’s making sure I come back in the best shape and making sure my weight is where it needs to be.” Last year, Kelly was scratched from a spring training appearance after he hurt his back while cooking Cajun food.___Colorado coach Jared Bednar says the three Avalanche players that tested positive for the novel coronavirus are feeling better.In a teleconference call Thursday, Bednar said the players adhered to the guidelines and self-isolated.“As far as I know, they’re all doing good and back with their families,” Bednar said. “Those guys are lucky and were lucky there wasn’t anything too serious with their symptoms. They were able to come through it without any major complications.” Share This StoryFacebookTwitteremailPrintLinkedinRedditThe Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The Breeders’ Cup is donating cash to help racetrack backstretch communities affected by the coronavirus pandemic. ___Former NFL coach Don Shula and three of his former Miami Dolphins players are providing free meals to those seriously affected by the coronavirus crisis. The program is funded by a $250,000 grant from team owner Stephen Ross.Shula, John Offerdahl, Kim Bokamper and Bob Brudzinski — all involved in the restaurant business — have teamed to help deliver breakfast, lunch or dinner to those most at risk.The Dolphins said Thursday the program provides wrapped meals for health care and nonprofit organizations and first responders. It is also aimed at keeping food service workers employed.___ Liberty University says it will allow all 19 of its spring sport athletes whose seasons were cut short by the novel coronarvirus to return next season and finish their careers.The NCAA Division I Council voted March 30 to permit spring sport athletes to return and, for one year, suspended financial aid rules governing the permissible number of scholarships a school can offer.The Flames’ spring sports include baseball, softball, men’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field.___Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has started a COVID-19 relief fund to help raise awareness of the impact of the pandemic on minority communities. He opened the effort with a donation of $100,000.“Black and brown communities are being disproportionately devastated by COVID-19 because of hundreds of years of structural racism,” Kaepernick said in a post on his Instagram account.The 32-year-old Kaepernick sparked one of the biggest controversies in NFL history when he started kneeling during the national anthem before games to protest social injustice in America.Kaepernick hasn’t appeared in an NFL game in three-plus years. He filed a grievance against the league, contending teams colluded to keep him out. The sides reached an undisclosed settlement. ___ The U.S. Open would be the next major tennis championship on the calendar after the French Open was postponed and Wimbledon was canceled.The WTA and ATP professional tours are currently suspended until at least July and one tournament in August already has been called off.___More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports,Tampa Bay Lightning advance to face Dallas Stars in Stanley Cup finals, beating New York Islanders 2-1 in OT in Game 6 The Serie B team says the move is part of measures being taken to “safeguard” the squad’s future “amid the temporary situation we are experiencing.”Stellone was hired in February to replace Paolo Zanetti. The former coach and his staff are still under contract with the club.Youth team coach Guillermo Abascal has been promoted to direct the first squad.Ascoli is in 15th place in the 20-team division.No soccer games have been played in Italy since March 9. That was when the government ordered a nationwide lockdown. The lockdown is set to expire after May 3. Two-time Olympic skiing champion Mikaela Shiffrin is stepping up to the microphone Friday to take part in a fundraiser for Goggles for Docs.The self-taught singer and guitarist will perform from her home in Colorado as part of the grassroots effort to provide health care workers with ski/snowboard goggles to help in their care of patients. So far, they’ve donated more than 30,000 to hospitals and clinics.The virtual benefit concert also will feature international singer/songwriter KT Tunstall. It can be heard on Facebook.com/REVERB.Shiffrin won gold in the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games and another in the giant slalom four years later in Pyeongchang. The 25-year-old, who has captured three overall World Cup titles, took a six-week break from ski racing this season following the death of her father.___ The International Skating Union has formally canceled its figure skating and short track world championships because of the coronavirus pandemic.The ISU made the decision after an online meeting of its governing council.The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships were initially set for March 13-15 in Seoul, South Korea, while the World Figure Skating Championships were supposed to be held in Montreal from March 16-22. Both events had already been postponed in the early days of the worldwide lockdown caused by the pandemic. Now, it’s official — they won’t be held at all.This will be the first year without the figure skating worlds since 1946, the last of a seven-year layoff because of World War II. Since the event’s founding in 1896, the only other cancellations occurred from 1915-21 because of World War I and its aftermath.The World Synchronized Skating Championships in Lake Placid, New York have been formally canceled as well. That event was originally set for April 3-5. Joe Kelly’s aim needs some work.The Los Angeles Dodgers reliever was tossing some pitches in his backyard, throwing at a bull’s-eye target enclosed on three sides by netting. One throw got away from him, sailing past the right side of the netting and breaking a bedroom window.“Oh!” Kelly exclaims in a video posted on social media, holding his right hand to his mouth.His wife Ashley asks, “Wondering how quarantine is going? Joe was working on a changeup” while panning to the broken window.“Yeah, that’s cool,” she says after a piece of glass falls out of the pane. “Rad.” Associated Press On short notice, the charity groups were able to raise $937,100.Wainwright founded Big League Impact in 2013. He says the big leaguers felt the need to jump in right away to help feed kids in their cities.___Italian second-division soccer club Ascoli has fired its coaching staff because of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Ascoli says it made the decision only after coach Roberto Stellone and his staff refused to terminate their contracts consensually with a settlement agreement.
April 16, 2020 The Latest: Breeders’ Cup donates to help racetrack workers Mike Conley Jr. expected to spend this week starting a quest for a championship with the Utah Jazz.He’s playing for the NBA HORSE title instead.Conley is one of four semifinalists in the tournament. The conclusion will be streamed Thursday night on the ESPN platforms. The other semifinalists are retired NBA champion Chauncey Billups, Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine and WNBA All-Star Allie Quigley of the Chicago Sky.The HORSE tournament was born to give basketball-starved fans some content and Conley says it scratched his itch to be competitive again as well.Conley says “HORSE is something that we’ve all played growing up and it’s something I actually play after most of my workouts in the summertime.” The ISU plans another online meeting April 28 to discuss scheduling possibilities for the 2020-21 skating season. ___More than 50 Major League Baseball players representing all 30 teams have raised nearly $1 million to provide over 4 million meals to support childhood hunger prevention during the coronavirus pandemic.The Home Plate Project is a partnership between Major League Baseball, country music superstar Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation, and Big League Impact, a program led by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and Texas Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson.The Home Plate Project initiative was originally scheduled to launch its second year in the fall. But Brooks, Wainwright and Gibson saw the urgency now to provide meals for children who rely on free or reduced-price meals at schools that are closed because of the pandemic. The final decision by the NFL is out of his hands.“I am a little worried that we won’t have a season, but that’s up to the governors, the President, (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell and all those other people.”–David Ginsburg reporting in Baltimore___Rutgers football players have had family members get sick with the coronavirus and some have dealt with a death, coach Greg Schiano says. ___The French soccer federation is preparing a rescue package for its 14,000 amateur clubs.The FFF says it will announce its “massive support plan for amateur soccer” in the coming days. It says the plan will support clubs when their leagues restart next season.The FFF canceled all its leagues this season because of the coronavirus pandemic except the third division and the women’s first division. The top two men’s leagues in France and the League Cup are run by the LFP.The French Cup final on April 25 and the women’s French Cup semifinals on March 21 have been postponed but not canceled. J___The NCAA is permitting coaches in all Division I sports to hold up to eight hours per week of virtual meetings and instruction with their players, beginning Monday through May 31.The Division I Council Coordination Committee made the adjustment this week to allow coaches more time to connect with their teams while social-distancing measures are in place to fight the coronavirus. Athletes will be required to have at least one day off per week and required physical activities continue to be prohibited. NCAA rules require a sports-safety certified staff member be present when athletes do required physical activities such as conditioning, strength training or practicing. Normally, coaches are allowed two hours per week to work with players and an additional six hours per week of strength and conditioning in the offseason. It would be the next major tennis championship on the calendar because the French Open’s start was postponed from May until September and Wimbledon was canceled altogether.The men’s and women’s tennis tours are on hold entirely until at least mid-July, and one tournament in August already has been scrapped.As for holding the U.S. Open with no fans, Dowse said the USTA is “not taking anything off the table, but right now, I’d say that’s a highly unlikely scenario.”He did add that the USTA “may reconsider.”___ ___The U.S. Tennis Association says it is overseeing a commitment of more than $50 million to help the sport deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.The USTA says it is shaving more than $20 million from its budget by reducing salaries of its management and eliminating programs in player development and marketing.The group that runs the U.S. Open says the total future support provided by the USTA and its industry partners for the sport at the grassroots level “will be determined by the financial performance” of the 2020 Grand Slam tournament in Flushing Meadows.The USTA says it still plans to stage its tournament as scheduled from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13. Speaking to the media for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the Big Ten Conference university and its athletic programs last month, Schiano said Thursday his biggest concern is the health of his players and their families. Schiano said none of his football players is known to have had the virus. Once he hears about a virus-related illness in a player’s family, Schiano telephones the player to ask how the school can help. ___While the start of horse racing season at Belmont Park is being postponed from the original April 24 date, the New York Racing Association says it’s committed to holding the Belmont Stakes in this year.NYRA on Thursday announced the spring/summer meet will be delayed but did not set a new opening day. It continues to assess options for the Belmont Stakes, scheduled for June 6, including shifting the third jewel of the Triple Crown to a later date. The Kentucky Derby has already been rescheduled from May 2 to Sept. 5. The Maryland Jockey Club has canceled infield activities for the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore but not announced whether it would be held May 16 or a later date.Racing at Belmont Park is scheduled to go on through July 12 before New York racing shifts to Saratoga in upstate New York.___The new CEO of the U.S. Tennis Association says he expects a decision on the status of the 2020 U.S. Open to be made by June and calls the prospect of holding the Grand Slam tournament without spectators because of the coranivirus pandemic “highly unlikely.”Mike Dowse, whose term began on Jan. 1, said in a conference call with reporters Thursday that “time is on our side at this point” because the U.S. Open is not scheduled to begin until late August. Conley adds “I like to still have fun and throw shots off the backboard, the walls, bounce stuff in. It’s just good to get the creative juices flowing again and I know all the competitors are feeling that way.”___The Canadian Open golf tournament has been canceled because of the to the coronavirus pandemic.The event was scheduled for June 8-14 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto.The Canadian Open is the third oldest event on the PGA Tour schedule behind the British Open and the U.S. Open.
On my way to Soldier Field in Chicago, the home of the Bears, everyone who claimed Chik-a-go as their town and their team were hopeful that this game would jumpstart their miracle machine. As I settled into the press box, the first person I ran into was Lou Ransom, former Courier managing editor and current executive editor of our sister paper, the Chicago Defender. I was sworn to secrecy as I knew he was rooting for the Black and Gold. The mystique surrounding this game would stir up memories of Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Mike Ditka and Dick Butkus. This was the Super Bowl in September for the Bruins from the Windy City. Pittsburgh lost the game 17-14 in an unlikely victory for the Bears.The first quarter and a half looked as if it was not going to be a game. The Pittsburgh defense appeared to be almost impenetrable and the Bears defense looked like Swiss cheese. And then came the unimaginable.The Steelers allowed the Bears to hang around and show they could be competitive. You could visibly see their confidence increasing. You could almost see them beginning to believe in themselves. With 6:56 left in the third quarter and the game still tied at seven, this seemed o be the optimum time for Pittsburgh to seize “Big Mo,” otherwise known as momentum. And they did just that. They only needed 1:30 and four plays to drive 69 yards, including a defensive penalty to take the lead once again.The third quarter ended and the Steelers were once again driving. Then the Bears and what seemed like the entire city of Chicago began to sing a fight song that sounded sort of Knute Rockne-ish. They also have a corny sort of rallying cry, “one city, one team.” I am reasonably certain that when all was said and done, Pittsburgh was the city and the team singing a sad and lonely ballad in unison when the clock struck midnight, this past Sunday.Bears headmaster Lovie Smith did not show a lot of love toward his fellow graduate and frat brother from Dungy University, Steelers head coach Mike Tomin. The mammals from the Windy City seemed as if they had a serious attitude and were ready for battle.Yeah, yeah, it was a rainy day, but ahh. There was, however, enough ineptitude to go around.Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes dropped two important almost sure catches. It looked as if he misplayed a sure TD completion from Big Ben Roethlisberger near the corner of the end zone. “You had to fight the elements. The rain did play a big part. You have to be professional about it.Everyone sharpened fingers to be pointed in regards to the Steelers defeat but Steeler kicker Jeff Reed was having none of it. There were many excuses offered, such as the rain and the slick turf but Reed seemed oblivious to the chatter. “There’s no excuse. I missed two kicks and basically what it was, I was trying too hard on both of them. That’s what happens to a right-footed kicker—you hook them. I’m just embarrassed because these guys fought their tail off to win the game. If there’s one player who can singlehandedly lose a game, I’ll take credit for it.”The Steelers defense at times appeared to be defenseless, allowing the Bears to go on the final game winning drive.Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler, who was about to be drawn and quartered after his four interceptions, helped the Green Bay Packers beat the Bears in their season opener, accounted for both of his team’s touchdowns with passes.He did not throw a pick and Pittsburgh could only manage to sack the nimble-footed QB just once. Tomlin had a positive assessment of Jay Cutler. “Jay Cutler was very good with the football in the face of pressure. He made very good decisions.”The Steelers defense found itself in a very unfamiliar position, having to stop the opposition from winning the game in the final seconds. “Usually, we find a way to pull it out at the end defensively, unfortunately for us, they pulled it out,” said Pittsburgh defensive end, Aaron Smith. James Farrior added, “It was a tough one today. We could have made some plays when we were supposed to, we just didn’t. Chicago’s got a good team and just hung in there to the end. That’s usually what we do.”At the beginning of the season everyone (including me) thought that aside from their opener against the Tennessee Titans the Steelers had a reasonable chance to be 4-1 after the first five games because of their supposedly easier schedule, especially in comparison to last year’s lineup.The Steelers up until now had been appointed and anointed to make the trip to Dolphins Stadium to compete for the NFL championship.They have now come home disjointed and disappointed. All the members of the Steelers Nation who have put their money aside in interest bearing accounts to pay for their Super Bowl tickets and their hotel rooms for Super Bowl XLIV in Miami in February, had better make sure their accounts are not debited prematurely.The loss to an emotionally charged Chicago Bears team in their home season opener will not prevent the Black and Gold from repeating as Super Bowl champions just as Pittsburgh’s opening victory against the Titans was no guarantee of professional football supremacy for the 2009 season.There is an old and overused saying—one game at a time. Pittsburgh should take it a step further and hold on to the concept of one play at a time.(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: 