Jonathan Ochshorn's live performance schedule

The Cortland Coffeehouse Plus

Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
I performed at the historic Unitarian Universalist Cobblestone Church; 3 Church Street in Cortland, New York ($5–$10 suggested donation; use side entrance on Elm Street)

Dinner, snacks, and desserts available beginning at 6:30

Music begins at 7:00

IT'S A CONCERT! IT'S A CAFÉ! IT'S A BOOKSHOP!

Song list (with links to "studio" versions)

Set 1 (with acoustic guitar)
Adorno's Golden Gate
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do:
(Versions from 1962 or 1975)
Baby Are You Happy
I Keep Singing the Same Song
OMA's Milstein Hall
Shrink Wrap
Adaptation
Walking in Circles
Home (with Susan Weitz)

Set 2 (with digital piano)
If You Want Me
One Life (Is All You Get)
Mister Nobody
Put Down the Blue
Count Me Out
PSA Blues
A Slow-Growing Cancer
Ode to Fluff

All songs © Jonathan Ochshorn except "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" (Neil Sedaka), "Home" (Susan Weitz), "Put Down the Blue" (Jennie Ochshorn), and "Mister Nobody" (Jonathan and Jennie Ochshorn).

I sang three songs at the Center for the Arts of Homer Open Mic in Homer, NY, on July 8, 2025 (Walking in Circles, Adaptation, and If I Could Sing Like That). Embedded below is the live version of Adaptation (© 2003 Jonathan Ochshorn) from the performance. Videography by Susan Schwartz. iPhone audio "enhanced" using Logic Pro X. Video editing on Final Cut Pro by Jonathan Ochshorn. Be sure to check out the studio version of Adaptation, which simulates my first performance of the song at the ABC Cafe in Ithaca.

I sang three songs at the Nocturnal Cafe Open Mic in Ithaca, NY, on July 2, 2025 (Just Another Bad Dream, Adaptation, and Between the Lines). Embedded below is the live version of Just Another bad Dream (© 1980 Jonathan Ochshorn) from the performance. Videography by Susan Schwartz. iPhone audio "enhanced" using Logic Pro X. Video editing on Final Cut Pro by Jonathan Ochshorn. Be sure to check out the studio version of Just Another Bad Dream.

I sang three songs at the Ake Gallery Open Mic in Cortland, NY, on June 19, 2025 (Graduation Day, Endgame, and Squints on a Triple). Embedded below is a live version of Graduation Day (© 2011 Jonathan Ochshorn). Videography by Susan Schwartz. iPhone audio "enhanced" using Logic Pro X. Video editing on Final Cut Pro by Jonathan Ochshorn. Thanks to the Ake Gallery Open Mic host Brian Fitz. Be sure to check out the studio version of Graduation Day, which features a guest appearance by Bill Clinton and some lead guitar by brother Kurt.

The Cortland Coffeehouse Plus

Saturday, May 31, 2025, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
I performed at the historic Unitarian Universalist Cobblestone Church
3 Church Street in Cortland, New York ($5–$10 suggested donation; use side entrance on Elm Street)

Dinner, snacks, and desserts available beginning at 6:30

Music begins at 7:00

IT'S A CONCERT! IT'S A CAFÉ! IT'S A BOOKSHOP!
IT'S A RUMMAGE SALE!

Song list (with links to "studio" versions)

Set 1 (with acoustic guitar)
Own Biggest Fan
Ticonderoga Moon
If I Could Sing Like That
Just Need a Little Concentration
Just Another Bad Dream
Between the Lines
This Is What You Get
Long Distance Love Affair
Walking in Circles

Set 2 (with digital piano)
Maybe
Manifesto of Love
I Can Give You Love
So Long
Anyone
This Isn't Hollywood
When I Come Home
After All
Your Love
We Only Had a Few Good Years

All songs © Jonathan Ochshorn except "Ticonderoga Moon" (John Hall/ Johanna Hall) and "When I Come Home" (Lennon/McCartney)

These are live versions of two songs, "Ticonderoga Moon" (Orleans, 1973, written by John Hall and Johanna Hall) and "If I Could Sing Like That" (© 2017 Jonathan Ochshorn) performed at the Ake Gallery Open Mic. Find the studio version of "If I Could Sing Like That" and links to my other songs and videos here. Videography by Susan Schwartz. Thanks to the Ake Gallery Open Mic host Brian Fitz.

The Cortland Coffeehouse Plus

Saturday, February 22, 2025, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
At the historic Unitarian Universalist Cobblestone Church
3 Church Street, Cortland, New York
($5–$10 suggested donation; use side entrance on Elm Street)

Dinner, snacks, and desserts available beginning at 6:30

Music begins at 7:00

IT'S A CONCERT!
IT'S A CAFÉ!
IT'S A BOOKSHOP!
IT'S A RUMMAGE SALE!

Song list (with links to "studio" versions)

Set 1
One Life (Is All You Get)
Shadows Burn
Stradlater's Roommate
When My Father Was My Age
That Must Be the Way
Stuck Here in a Box

Set 2
Tunnel of Love
Puzzle of the Heart
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Last Night
Honeymoon Phase
Prisoner of Art
Higher Resolution
Jaywalking

All songs © Jonathan Ochshorn except "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (Goffin/King)

I performed one song, having been unexpectedly offered the opportunity by Colleen Kattau — bilingual vocalist, award-winning song-maker and dynamic performer of Latin-influenced progressive eclectic folk — who was performing at the Coffeehouse that evening.

November 13, 2024
Cornell University
I performed my song, "OMA's Milstein Hall," as part of a lecture on Milstein Hall and design accountability, accompanying myself on guitar and harmonica. My piano-based studio version of the song is here. Find lecture details here.

Saturday, September 21, 2024, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
At the historic Unitarian Universalist Cobblestone Church
3 Church Street in Cortland, New York ($5 suggested donation; use side entrance on Elm Street)

Center for the Arts of Homer and the Cortland Unitarian Universalist Church present the first in a monthly series:

I was the inaugural performer for the opening of this coffeehouse/bookstore, playing two sets of original songs in the basement of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cortland, New York, also known as "The Old Cobblestone Church." According to the Church website: "The building was placed on the State and National Register of Historic Buildings in 1993. The 'Old Cobblestone Church' is now the oldest building in Cortland County and is one of only two such cobblestone buildings in the country."

April 17, 2024
Milstein Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
I created a music video as a presentation vehicle for my book, OMA's Milstein Hall, that was played at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning's "Launchpad" event — a book launch for recent college publications. The video can be viewed here

September 10, 2023
Private residence, Trumansburg, NY
This was a 1-song event; I performed "Squints on a Triple," my song about the board game, Scrabble, to celebrate the publication of Playing Place by Chad Randl and D. Medina Lasansky (MIT Press). An iPhone video recording of the performance can be found here.

April 27, 2023
Milstein Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
I created a music video as a presentation vehicle for my book, Building Bad, that was played at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning's "Launchpad" event — a book launch for recent college publications. The video can be viewed here

January 27, 2023
Inns of Aurora, Aurora, NY
I played four songs about architecture and about getting old to celebrate my retirement from Cornell. Here is the iPhone video recording of the performance:

April 13, 2018
Milstein Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
I emceed Cornell Architecture's 2018 Thumbnail event, which is based on the model of PechaKucha (a presentation format which consists of 20 slides, 20 seconds each). The theme of the event was "Taboo," and I performed a live version of my song, Squints on a Triple, explaining in my introductory banter that the song could be construed as having some "taboo" content, in particular the third verse with these lyrics:

She has flung in my face all those skills that I taught her
Now I'm left in disgrace its a moral that's sought here
You better be careful when playing games with your daughter

December 30, 2016
Tianjin University School of International Education New Year's Party, Tianjin, China

Jonathan Ochshorn with guitar performing in Tianjin, China

Jaywalking, in this song, is a metaphor for revolution, or — according to my extemporaneous chatter at the start of this performance — for breaking rules. It's a kind of blues, but with a non-typical rhythmic structure. It's also one of my first songs, written way back in 1979. There is a recording of this live version here, as performed at the Tianjin University School of International Education New Year's Party on Dec. 30, 2016, in Tianjin, China. I was teaching there, in the School of Architecture, as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar for the fall 2016 semester. My GarageBand "studio" version, recorded in 2008, can be found here. I have no idea how the live performance was recorded; it sounds like a mic was placed in the room, so that there is quite a bit of background noise. There is also an unexplained explosive buzz near the end of the performance.

April 15, 2016
Milstein Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
I created a music video for Cornell Architecture's Thumbnail event, which is based on the model of PechaKucha (a presentation format which consists of 20 slides, 20 seconds each). The theme of the event was "Fluff," and my original song examines the advantages of fluffy insulation in passive house buildings. The video, and annotated transcript, can be found here.

Upcoming performances

Performance log