David Bennett Cohen was there when psychedelic rock was being assembled. As the original keyboardist for Country Joe and the Fish from 1965 to 1969, he shared stages with Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Garcia during the years the genre was still figuring out what it was. On Saturday, August 15, he arrives at Abilene Bar & Lounge in Rochester as special guest for the Infrared Radiation Orchestra — a pairing that puts a living participant in the era next to a band that has spent years faithfully excavating it. The conversation between those two positions is worth showing up to hear.
About the Show
Infrared Radiation Orchestra, based in Seneca Falls, has built its identity on late ’60s and early ’70s psychedelic and garage rock. The band is led by guitarist Kim Draheim, a former fixture on upstate stages with bar band Static Cling from the mid-1980s through the early 2000s; Barry Wayne Miller plays drums and Richard Terry handles bass. Their sound draws comparisons to the Velvet Underground, Butterfield’s “East-West,” The Doors, Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and early Blue Oyster Cult. Rochester City Newspaper has called them “one of Central NY’s coolest and most gritty psychedelic garage rock outfits,” and their album Hot Rod Full of Eyeballs was reviewed as “quirky, offbeat, eerie and pensive rock-noir.” The band has appeared at the Rochester Fringe Festival and Photo City Music Hall, among other venues.
Cohen’s presence elevates the evening considerably. His 1965-to-1969 run with Country Joe and the Fish produced two foundational records, Electric Music for the Mind and Body and I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die (both 1967), and placed him alongside Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and the broader psychedelic circuit of that era. The career since then has moved through the Blues Project in New York, collaborations with Johnny Winter, Mick Taylor, and Bob Weir, a touring role in the Broadway production of Rent, and solo recordings including the 2022 album Bittersweet. Living Blues critic Jon Kleinman wrote of him: “Cohen’s been making music for over 60 years! He still has plenty of creativity and musicianship to share!” The evening opens with a set by John Kelley.
Venue & Logistics
Abilene Bar & Lounge, at 153 Liberty Pole Way in Rochester, is a 200-capacity room. Doors at 6:30 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m. For this kind of music in western New York, the scale is part of the point.
Tickets
Cover is $10. Buy tickets