Hobart and William Smith Colleges

18 August 2010 WEOS, Bonacci Family Featured

Last weeks Jumpstart section of the Finger Lakes Times noted the live performance of Indie rock band Ra Ra Riot would be streaming on the Colleges radio station WEOS 89.7/90.3 FM the following day. The band has strong local ties in the form of Milo Bonacci, the groups guitarist and a Geneva resident. It also has ties to HWS as Milos father is Tom Bonacci, facilities manager at the Colleges.

A lot of people hear him, but he doesnt get heard in his hometown very often, the article quotes Tom. So its really cool whenever he plays close to home or can be heard on the radio.

Ra Ra Riot will perform live in Geneva on September 18. More information and the full article from last week follows.

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Finger Lakes Times
Live Ra Ra airing on WEOS
Genevans Riot performance on radio; band here this fall
Jumpstart August 12, 2010

Geneva-

Come noon tomorrow, Tom Bonacci will be tuned in to a radio station that happens to be broadcast from the Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he is the facilities manager.

The station, WEOS 89.7/90.3 FM, will be streaming a live performance by one of his favorite bands, which features his own son, guitarist Milo Bonacci.

Milo was a founding member of the popular, Geneva-born Gym Class Heroes and now part of the Indie rock group Ra Ra Riot that has gained a loyal following from here to California.

A lot of people hear him, but he doesnt get heard in his hometown very often, said Tom, who lives in Geneva with his wife, Jane. So its really cool whenever he plays close to home or can be heard on the radio.

Upon learning that the campus station would be airing Ra Ra Riots performance at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, the proud pop organized something of a listening party among his colleagues.

I see a lot of people, he said. Ive been spreading the word.

Hes been doing his best to let folks know, too, about Ra Ra Riots upcoming visit to Geneva to put on a show at a downtown building called the Cracker Factory thats home to the nonprofit arts group Three Stories. Proceeds from the Sept. 18 show will help Three Stories establish an artist-in-residence program that will bring painters, photographers and the like to the area to practice their craft and share lessons with others.

Were extremely, extremely honored' said Three Stories Amy Phillips, who lives at the Cracker Factory. Its a very sincere, kind gesture of the whole band to do this.

Phillips says shell be tuning in to the radio show Friday and expects to hear some tunes from Ra Ra Riots album, The Orchard, set to be released Aug. 24. It has special Significance for her her former farmhouse in Penn Yan is featured on the albums cover.

She hosted Milo and Bandmates for a month at this time last year. They soaked up the Finger Lakes and wrote the songs featured on the album. Milo still calls Geneva home, but he spends most of his time in Brooklyn and on the road playing music.

We really loved that farm, so it was our pleasure to have them stay there and enjoy the place, said Phillips, a longtime friend of the Bonacci family. They really captured the feeling of the place.

Greg Cotterill, station manager of WEOS, cant wait for the new album. He, too, happens to be a big fan of Ra Ra Riot and not just because it includes a hometown guy.

When the group was in the area last year Cotterill got to meet them and was thrilled they spent a few hours checking out the old vinyl records the station was preparing to sell as a fundraiser for the Smith Opera House.

WEOS doesnt usually air World Cafe Live shows but upon learning Milos band was on the lineup, Cotterill jumped at the opportunity.

Its a special Broadcast, its not something we do every day, he said. Its going to be a lot of fun.

Tune in

The Indie rock band Ra Ra Riot, which includes Geneva native Milo Bonacci, will perform at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia at noon Friday. The performance will be broadcast live on WEOS 89.7/90.3 FM from the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Anyone who cant pick up the station can here is streamed live over the Internet by logging on to WEOS.org.