A little more than a month after the grisly shootings in Sandy Hook, some four dozen of the region’s top bands are descending upon the Connecticut state capital to raise capital for the victims’ families.
Titled Downtown For Newton and involving nine Hartford venues. including The Russian Lady, Union Station, Up Or On the Rocks and Black Eyed Sally’s, the all-day music fest occurs on Jan. 27.
“[The management] of Up Or On the Rocks asked if we would do it, and we definitely wanted to get involved,” notes six-stringer Chris “Christafari” Regan on the inclusion of his Valley-based Fear Nuttin Band in the festivities. “It’s a really tragic situation that you think couldn’t happen to you, but then it hits so close to home. We just can’t understand the brutality. Hopefully all of the musicians involved can bring some positive vibes to Connecticut.”
Among the other acts already signed on to lend sonic support to the altruistic audio event are jam band scene veterans Max Creek and current darlings The McLovins, hip-hop heavyweights Klokwize, Hartt School of Music alums Bronze Radio Return, Western Mass. rockers Gone By Daylight and many more. For full details, schedules, ticket purchasing options and more, kindly point your browser to ticketfly.com.
Speaking of vibes and Connecticut, the city of Bridgeport has just inked a five-year deal to host The Gathering of the Vibes (http://govibes.com), an annual music, camping and arts festival that has featured acts ranging from the Black Crowes to Primus to James Brown to all founding members of the Grateful Dead in its 17-year history.
Tickets are on sale now for the 2013 installment, occurring in the city’s Seaside Park July 25-28. And according to Gathering’s executive director Kevin Hays, the marriage of his fest and the city noted for its ties to a certain circus impresario of note couldn’t be more fitting.
“The agreement epitomizes the original vision of legendary Bridgeport resident P.T. Barnum, who donated this park land for all who wanted to hear music,” Hays explains.
Rounding out this week’s music news for the Nutmeg State, media director Nick Zemek checked in to give us a sneak peak at what he has cooking at Stafford, Conn.’s newly renovated Palace Theater (thestaffordpalacetheater.com) over the next few weeks. Or should the Crawler say “sneak peep?”
“We heard about the Pretty Things Peepshow through word of mouth,” he says of the burlesque/vaudeville-inspired show of same name slated for Jan. 25. “Then we saw the Youtube clips and had to have them!”
Other upcoming Palace shows include Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds (Jan. 26), Sixpence None The Richer (Jan. 31) and The Amazing Kreskin (Feb. 1)—the last of whom yours truly is scheduled to interview next week.
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On to the Noho news proper. Iconic folk rockers Aztec Two-Step pop into the Iron Horse (iheg.com) this Saturday, Jan. 26 on the heels of a critically acclaimed studio effort (2012’s Cause & Effect) and the recent passing of a musical milestone of note—four decades of existence. The core duo of Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman first debuted their haunting, Simon and Garfunkel-esque sound on the 1972 Elektra Records release Aztec Two-Step.
Also (Iron) Horsin’ around this month is the one-man, violin-based performer Kishi Bashi, coming in to play the hallowed hall on Wednesday, Jan. 30.
Bashi’s debut solo LP, 151a, showed at number six on Billboard’s Heatseeker Charts and was included on year-end Best New Act lists in Paste Magazine and on National Public Radio.
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Last but not least, tix are on sale now for celebrated singer/songwriter Patty Larkin’s Feb. 9 Next Stage Vermont show in Putney. They are available at nextstagearts.org and priced at $20 in advance ($18 for students and seniors), $23 at the door.•
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.
