Uptown Kingston is about to get a new place to assemble, both peaceably and at times perhaps boisterously. Just in time for 2025, new venue Assembly is opening on the top floor of the old St. Joseph’s School on Wall Street.
Assembly is the brainchild of Peter Himberger and Drew Frankel who together run Impact Concerts. The name, of course, is a nod to the assemblies that used to take place there when the space was a school, but there are parallel meanings as well.
“The name refers to our desire to build a place where our community will gather,” Frankel says, “we intend Assembly’s programming to reflect this.”
Frankel and Himberger also appreciate the historical connection. New York State’s Assembly met for the first time barely a block away at the Bogardus Tavern in 1777 during Kingston’s brief tenure as first capital before the infamous conflagration.
Coinciding with New Years’ Eve, Assembly opens with a bang, a two-night run featuring headliners The Felice Brothers on December 30 and 31. Impact Concerts has produced shows with The Felice Brothers at various venues over the years, including Levon Helm Studios, Colony, and the Felice County Fair.
“We really value our relationship with The Felice Brothers and admire them as hometown heroes here in the Hudson Valley,” Frankel says. “We couldn’t think of better artists to team up with for our opening nights at Assembly, not to mention that James lives just a few steps away!”
We’ll double back to the Felice Brothers in a few paragraphs, but first, a bit more about Assembly itself. With a capacity of 450 standing, the new venue closes an important gap between Tubby’s (100) and UPAC (1,500) allowing nationally touring mid-size bands to be able to play in Kingston.
Being veteran promoters, Impact Concerts understands what’s required to make this happen. The Convent House next door will house green rooms as well as kitchen and laundry facilities for artists and crews. There’s room for tour buses, including “shore power” so bus generators won’t be drained.
“We’ve put a great deal of consideration into the artist experience,” Frankel says. “Most of all, Uptown has a tremendous amount to offer touring artists with plenty of coffee shops, record stores, and galleries.”
It was at one of Kingston’s newer coffee shops that I met up with James Felice recently to discuss The Felice Brothers’ upcoming shows at Assembly, and cover a little band history in general.
“You know, I don’t think we’ve ever inaugurated a venue before,” Felice says. “I don’t know if you’re supposed to smash a champagne bottle against the wall? I guess it’s New Years, so it’s gonna happen anyway.”
The Felice Brothers have been playing New Years shows in the Hudson Valley for about ten years or so. Doing a late-year run around the northeast culminating with an area show has become a band tradition. Previous New Year’s shows have been in Woodstock, Hudson, and other nearby places.
Part of the band’s mythology are their early days playing in New York City subways, but the fact is they did some of their best busking right here in uptown Kingston during the farmers’ market.
“We used to play right in front of Fleishers,” Felice says. “I don’t know how he did it, but my brother Simon — when he was in the band — somehow made a deal with Fleishers. We would get, like, a rotisserie chicken when we were done playing. In exchange for what I don’t remember, but it was one of our main sources of food back then, the rotisserie chicken.”
From such down-to-earth beginnings, The Felice Brothers went on to tour the world and have put out almost a dozen full-length albums. Their most recent album, Valley of Abandoned Songs, started as a collection of demos left over from previous albums. They were considering putting it out on Bandcamp when, on a lark, they sent it to their friend Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame with whom they’d toured some years back.
“Conor heard the record and he was, like, Dudes, I love this, I wanna put it out,” Felice says.
So, in another first, Abandoned Songs became the inaugural release on Oberst’s Million Stars label. Other releases are slated to come soon, including a James Felice solo album.
The current make-up of The Felice Brothers has remained the same for nearly a decade now. James Felice is a multi-instrumentalist and sometime singer. His brother Ian sings main vocals and plays guitar and piano (and is a great painter too!) Rounding out the band are William Lawrence on drums and Jesske Hume on bass, who James makes a point of bragging about.
“Jesske’s an amazing bass player. She’s been playing with TV on the Radio so, yeah, she’s super over-qualified to be in our band.”
Humility aside, The Felice Brothers have an enthusiastic and dedicated fanbase that are likely to pack Assembly for its trial run on the 30th and 31st.
Experiencing the new space itself should also be a treat for concert goers. The venue features a brand-new state-of-the-art sound system made by German company d&b audiotechnik. Double-paned windows and thick curtains have been installed to help contain the sound, and there’s a brand new lighting system as well.
Assembly will feature a moveable bar that’s licensed for events. What this means is that the space will not be open as a bar when there’s no event, but when you come to a show, you’ll be able to buy drinks.
For folks wondering about the accessibility of a third floor venue, the building has recently installed an ADA-compliant elevator that goes from parking lot to performance space.
One of the more interesting parameters when it came to converting the space has to do with historic preservation.
“The building that’s home to Assembly is over 110 years old and has historic designation status,” Drew Frankel says. “Many of the original details, including the arched windows, ornamental ceilings, and carved wooden proscenium have all been preserved.”
In fact, they even sent a small square of original ceiling to the company creating the acoustic panels so they could match the pattern.
What do folks who remember the building as St. Joseph’s School think about the fact that it’s becoming a venue? Robert Fisher, a Kingston attorney whose offices happen to be right there on the same block, went to St. Joseph’s in the early 70s.
“My mom and aunts all went there too,” Fisher says. “When I first heard it wasn’t going to be a school, it was sort of poignant to think about our family connection to it, but rather than have it sit derelict I was glad it was going to have a positive use.”
Fisher doesn’t have a lot of specific memories of the venue space itself, but he does recall one spring concert up there in particular.
“When I was in the 3rd grade we sang a song about bluebirds,” he says. “I can’t tell you in a million years what the song was, but we all had to wear blue shirts.”
Before the “new building” was built across the street in the 60s, the top floor in the “old building” had doubled as both auditorium and gymnasium. Now that it’s a venue, it will be used for a lot more than that.
“There will be dance parties, film screenings, burlesque, comedy, theater, markets, and other community gatherings in addition to concerts,” Frankel says.
There are a few upcoming events already posted, likely a more-expansive calendar will be released early in the new year, and you can expect things to really get rolling come March or April.
Meanwhile, if you want to be there for the grand opening to see an awesome show by The Felice Brothers, grab those tickets while you can. Also check out Assembly’s website (assemblykingston.com) to rsvp for the New Year’s Eve afterparty which starts at midnight.
Join the family! 
